Beyond Grace – Seekers (Review)

It seems like ages since 2014’s Monstrous was unleashed on the world, showing much promise for the future. Well, that promise has now appeared and coalesced in the form of Seekers.

Beyond Grace play intelligently-crafted death metal. The band take the base aggression and brutality of the style and augment it with technical, progressive, and melodic flourishes, making for a very well-rounded and comprehensive release.

This is modern death metal, but without the deathcore baggage that can sometimes come with that appellation. The band’s central core is constructed from pure/classic death metal building blocks, and this is dragged into 2017 by modern technical and progressive metal influences. Although this sees the band operating near the hinterland between these styles, they are still very much on the death metal side of the border when all is said and done. However, I like that they are close enough to technical/progressive metal territories to go on raids to steal some of the juicier parts from these styles for their own use.

Blast beats are used well, as are huge grooves, colourful melodies, and technical riffs. All of the instruments are well-played, including the bass guitar, which is so often neglected.

Although track lengths vary, generally speaking the songs are long enough for the band to pack all kinds of juicy content into them, but not so long that they lose the listener’s attention through pointless filler material.

The album benefits from a strong, clear production that allows you to hear everything that’s going on. Along with the quality musicianship, Seekers is a very strong package, and that’s before you even factor in how enjoyable the songs are.

Yes, 2014’s EP Monstrous showed great promise by this band. On Seekers, however, they have not only fulfilled this promise, but delivered way more than I could have expected. The development and progression in the band since that early EP is huge, and Seekers is a confident, mature, and accomplished album.